Dayton Moore decided his struggling baseball team needed some enthusiasm, some energy.
That shouldn't be a problem anymore.
In his first public address since he was named the Royals' interim hitting coach, George Brett, passionate — and quite frankly a bit peeved — delivered an address so inspiring it left out-of-shape reporters feeling like, with the Hall of Famer's help, even they could lather some pine tar on their hands, swing a bat and smack a ball.
"Out of frustration," Brett said when asked why — after years of stiff-arming the club's request for him to swap his job as Royals' vice president of baseball operations with a role more active with the team — he accepted the invitation of Moore and manager Ned Yost to step into the spot vacated by demotions of former hitting coaches, Jack Maloof and Andre David.
"I feel the same frustration as the players do," Brett , who will work alongside Pedro Grifol said. "I feel the same frustration as our manager, Ned, and our general manager, Dayton, and ownership, David and Dan Glass. Just frustrated watching it, night after night after night."
"This thing has been offered to me before," he added. "But my kids were young. I had three young buys. I retired from baseball. Right now, I have two kids in college and one is going to be a senior in high school. So, I'm not missing them growing up anymore. And it's summertime. So, it's time for me to go to work."
The Royals entered Thursday's game against the Cardinals with a .261 batting average, an on-base percentage of .314 and slugging percentage of .375. Their home run total of 28 is second-worst in the MLB. Lately, the weak bats have grown increasingly worse. Kansas City hasn't scored more than three runs in a game since May 23. In the last week, they're averaging .227 with a .280 on-base percentage and a .298 slugging percentage.